Meditation does serve a rather serious purpose.

I recently read an article about Max Planck, who won a Nobel Prize for his work with atoms. After years of study and research, Planck eventually said that he could only know one thing--that some invisible force holds together energy to create this minute solar system, and he must assume, based on his research, that some higher intelligence is behind this force.

I was born with some understanding that the world was made of energy. I didn't buy the story that kept showing up in front of me, whether it was my parent's story, my schoolteacher's stories, or the stories in the news. I just didn't buy it. I saw the world as energy. And I actually saw that the only thing that was really important was the joint flow between human beings and how that energy was working and processing.

Quantum physicists today will tell you the same thing, usually in rather mind-twisting statements. But these ideas are not just the esoteric territory of the scientific fringe. In fact, scientists have believed that the world can be completely understood in terms of energy for quite some time. In 1632, Galileo published A Dialogue Concerning Two Chief World Systems, which included his principle of relativity, which states that the fundamental laws of physics are universal in all fixed situations. Others, such as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, continued to build on the work of Galileo, which eventually led to the discovery of Einstein's famous theory of relativity in 1905. E=mc2 states that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, that energy and mass are equivalent and transmutable. Einstein's formula is also closely linked to the idea that energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Most recently, scientists such as Stephen Hawking have been looking to take the work of Einstein further to find a complete set of laws on how everything in the universe works, in what has become known as Unified Field Theory. Although this theory has yet to be conclusively proven, it's hoped that in time it will be found and eventually simplified so that someday it can be taught in schools, thereby giving everyone some idea of how the universe operates.

The idea that everything in this world is made of energy is also something that has been known to mystics for millennia, particularly in the eastern traditions. Over the past thirty years, as we have increasingly seen a greater synthesis of Eastern and Western thought than ever before, many ancient teachings of the East have gained a wider acceptance in the West, especially as science has begun to validate some of the key eastern spiritual insights.

This is obviously a very brief summary of a much deeper and complex subject, and there are certainly numerous books and other resources available detailing how physicists are trying to explain the nature of energy and matter in the universe if anyone would like to understand it in more detail. But for our purposes, I hope we can simply agree that at the most basic level, energy is the value we are exchanging with each other and the world in every action and interaction.

If everything is energy at the deepest level, it would stand to reason the more tuned in you are to the Source of energy in the universe, the more you can actually accomplish. Any truly successful person understands how to access this energy to some extent. According to many Eastern systems, the mind is the greatest obstacle to better understanding the world and connecting to the larger energetic system that surrounds us. Especially in this day and age, when the mind is bombarded with so many distractions, it's no wonder it can't keep still. If you take a moment and look within, most of us will notice a voice inside our heads that is talking so fast we can barely concentrate on anything. In a way, this voice reminds me of walking down the street in New York City alongside a homeless man who is talking to himself aloud. As crazy as this sight so often seems, most of us in fact are doing the exact same thing, just silently to ourselves rather than out loud.

Sometimes I ask people in my seminars to give me an image that describes their mind. "A six-lane highway," one man said. "An endless to-do list," said another. Other images people come up with include an orchestra without a conductor, a jigsaw puzzle with only some pieces joined together, and a traffic jam at a busy intersection. Almost without exception, people come up with images that represent chaos, confusion, fragmentation, complexity and lack of integration.

Generally speaking, there are two ways our minds work. If you have a project or a task or a problem to solve, you can engage your mind to help you accomplish your goals. A scientist figuring out a lab experiment, a mathematician working out a complex equation, and a writer creating a novel are all engaging the mind in this way. When you engage the mind in problem solving, it is working for you; you are using your mind. And as the saying goes, "The mind is a terrible master but a wonderful servant."

Then there are those times when our minds endlessly chatter. For most of our day, we are not engaging our minds; rather, our minds are engaging us. Your mind may be running around all over the place, depleting your energy and not really accomplishing anything. And during these times, there is probably not much that is useful that your mind is telling you. It's just trying to keep you hooked--on it. When you are engaging the mind to do a task, you are using the mind. When your attention is caught up in the stream of thoughts, the mind is using you.

The first step in learning to harness the power of your attention is to become aware of how it moves. To do this, we need to find a way to disengage from the stream of thoughts that preoccupy us. This is one of the fundamental reasons people practice meditation, in all its many forms. Although meditation is probably the most direct and effective way to harness the power of your attention, there are many other methods as well, and given that we are all unique, each of us should find the method that seems to fit best for us. For some people, it will be the meditation cushion. For others, it might be a nature walk, a kickboxing class, church visits, or a morning shower. What you do is not nearly as important as how and why.

So when I use the term meditation, I don't just mean sitting cross-legged on a cushion, but rather participating in any deliberate activity that teaches you to disengage from a compulsive relationship to the stream of thought. There are numerous books that have been written over the years on the subject of meditation and how to disengage from the thinking mind or, more simply put, stop listening to the voice inside your head. It's important that you find a method that works for you.

Meditation reveals to us is that there is an alternative to the TV show dramas playing inside our heads.

It's not that the channel won't be on all the time, but there is an alternative to paying attention to it. You can disengage from it, and even though it may be playing in the background, the volume will have been turned down, and perhaps most importantly, you will have started to find the show it repeats all the time to be quite boring. When you start to be bored by your mind's soap opera, you will find a way to tune in to other channels. There's a lot going on besides those reruns!

Just as we go to the gym to maintain a healthy body, we meditate to maintain a healthy mind. The first few times we go to the gym, it's really difficult and we are sore afterward. But the more we go, the more we find our body is able to perform better and better. We're stronger, we can climb more stairs, and we have more energy during the day. With meditation, the more we practice, the more access we gain to the stillness and power that lies beyond our racing minds.

The benefit of learning how to disengage our attention from the thought stream is that we can then apply our minds more readily toward more constructive things, such as accomplishing tasks and goals, connecting with other people, to our own true purpose and what we wish to accomplish in life. It creates space within us--an opening that allows more energy to flow into us. In this seemingly paradoxical way, having more space in our minds allows us to accomplish more and more things in the world.

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Jeffrey Gitterman is an award winning financial advisor and the founder and CEO of Gitterman & Associates Wealth management, LLC. www.gawmllc.com. In these challenging economic times, Jeff recently co-founded Beyond Success, www.BeyondSuccessConsulting.com, a consulting firm that brings more holistic and spiritual values to the world of business and wealth management. His first book, Beyond Success: Redefining the Meaning of Prosperity, was recently published by AMACOM, the publishing house of the American Management Association.

Over the past several years, Jeff has been featured and interviewed in several national and local print, TV, and radio programs, including Money, CNN, Financial Advisor, New Jersey Business Journal, and News 12 New Jersey. In 2004, he was honored by Fortune Small Business Magazine as One of Our Nation?s Best Bosses. Jeff also serves as chairman of the advisory board to the Autism Center of New Jersey Medical School, an organization that raises significant monies each year for autism research and support services.

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For more information about Jeffrey Gitterman and Beyond Success Consulting please see:

3 responses to “The Importance of Meditation”

You see how it happens? You just read one random article, like this one, and it all clicks. Mr. Gitterman, I love the way you express yourself and information, without dogma or one-size-fits-all. I happen to be sensitive to energy and at times, without my trying to focus on IT, IT gets my attention — but this is only on occasion. I have ADD, so it’s very challenging for me to slow myself down and meditate, in whatever form, but when I do, it slows or diminishes my overactive mind. I become a better listener (in EVERY sense), I learn more, and if by magic, I can’t help but notice that people are more magnetized to me, sometimes as if SEEING me for the first time. (sorry for all the caps, I would be italicizing if that feature was available). Mr. Gitterman, I’m now a fan, and will begin by purchasing your book, Beyond Success: Redefining the Meaning of Prosperity. It’s so interesting that you were always aware of energy even as a child. For me, it didn’t come until years later, although I did have a trancendental experience at 11. I was feeling sorry for children I heard about who lived in another country where there was great hardship, and suddenly, there was an involuntary shift in my consciousness — I WAS that other child, or children, in another country, and they were me. We were one. And that was the end of the experience, but it was so powerful and real, that I’ve never forgotten it or the Feeling/Knowing nature of it, although there was much more that came once I reached adulthood. I’m so glad to have been introduced to you, Mr. Gitterman, and look forward to reading your work.
Robin Barrhttp://www.ColdSoresBegone.comhttp://www.CankerSoresBegone.comhttp://www.RobinBarrBuzz.com

I have really enjoyied reading your well written article. It looks like you spend a lot of effort and time on your blog. I have bookmarked it and I am looking forward to reading new articles. Keep up the good work!

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